But this vacuum will never be filled by any force other than the popular classes. These popular classes realize more and more that the Zionist Ashkenazi regime is a direct part of the capitalist West which is the historical enemy of the Arab nation, and that the realization of the goals of the Arab popular classes of development, unity and socialism is highly conditioned by the liberation of Palestine through the change of the nature of the Zionist regime to be integrated into the socialist Arab Homeland which is named Arab Homeland, but is not only for Arabs.

This is the text of a speech that was supposed to be delivered in a meeting in Tel Aviv on the 17th of May 2005.

A Different Introduction

The distance from my village, Beit Ur al-Foqa, to the west of Ramallah to here in Tel Aviv, is approximately 25 km. I carry a Palestinian and US passports or citizenships and in addition I have a Jordanian passport of the second class, i.e. it is workable inside Jordan only, and not usable for travel. In spite of all of these citizenships, I am, like all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBG), arbitrarily carrying a local ID issued by the Zionist Ashkenazi Regime (ZAR) authorities. This ID is issued to tell the occupation forces that this is a “Palestinian”, be careful, and harm him as much as possible. Unfortunately, this is the only workable paper under the occupation. That is why all three passports do not allow me to pass from my village to here or to any place in the world. To pass this short distance, or to move to any corner in the globe, the only way is to go to the military station, to queue in one of the long queues and wait until the soldier commands me to stand behind the fence. He is at liberty to take my application, to throw it, or to tell me come after a weak…etc or to say go.[1] That is why, while I like very much to discuss issues, I decide not to go to the military authority to exchange the chance to talk for a humiliating experience.

The law of occupation allows any native who carries an ID to bring his/her partner in the so-called family re-union. Enayeh and I have been married since October 1975. She is a US citizen. Since then, Enayeh has been is living here as a tourist. From 1975 until 1994, despite the fact that we have two children born here, she was obliged to travel every three months abroad to renew her visa which serves for three months only. After Oslo, Accords she has to renew her residency every 6 or nine months. Shall I say thanks to Oslo! The question that I am trying to answer is: Will the situation be better for each individual including my self with a two-state solution?

********

The approaches that dealt with the Arab-Zionist conflict tremendously varied and depended on contradicted interpretations. Some Arabs go back to the history of the very ancient existence of Canaanites; some Jews depend on the Old Testament and thus use the Nazi Holocaust, while most of the Jews and some Arabs ignore the Zionist Holocaust of 1948 against the Palestinians.

The approach of my speech is historical materialism, but without going back deeply in history. The current Arab- Zionist conflict was deliberately created by the ruling capitalist classes in European and later North American countries, including Jewish capitalists in these countries. Accordingly, this conflict will never be solved unless one of two developments took place:

The dismantling of the world capitalist system which must, at that time, give rise to different social formation, a socialist one.

Or a deep socio-economic and cultural transformation in the Arab Homeland.[2]

Accordingly, the beginning of this conflict was never due to the occupation of most of Palestine in 1948, but much earlier to the call of Napoleon Bonaparte (1799) to European Jews to share his colonial campaign to the Arab Homeland including Palestine.

The first concluded result of the official Arab defeat in 1948 is that:

The World capitalist system created the white settler colonial Zionist Ashkenazi regime to be maintained forever.

The Palestinian refugees, who have been evicted from their country, are to be settled as far as possible from Palestine’s borders, and shouldn’t return under any circumstances.

This is the cornerstone of the policy of the capitalist West towards the Arab-Zionist conflict, despite the various versions of what so-called peace initiatives designed by the ruling bourgeois Classes’ in these western countries, i.e. all these solutions are of a Zionist content. The occupation of the rest of Palestine was a mere continuation of 1948 Nakba. While the experience of the Zionist occupation of the WBG (1967) shows the Zionist Ashkenazi the limits of their colonial project, it gradually, but firmly taught them that to maintain their colonization over WBG is costly. It is obvious that the Zionist Ashkenazi will

continue to use the Old Testament un-historical narration about Palestine. But this myth is slowly losing attraction among the new Jewish generations even those who are Zionists in capitalist-racist terms.[3] This shouldn’t, however, lessen the tremendous support of the Biblical Myth by the new Evangelists in the United States, and the good opportunity presented by the unexpected decline of the socialist camp.

On the other hand, the Zionist Ashkenazi are still unfortunate because of the unexpected change at world socialist movement: while the ruling bureaucrats in the so-called socialist counties either collapsed or were transformed into Mafia capitalists, the world movement against war and globalization has been taken by the popular masses. War and globalization are the two pillars of the international capitalist class which is in the making. The anti-war and globalization movement is an indirect movement against capitalism, which is also in the final analysis against the Zionist Ashkenazi entity.

Change did not occur in the Arab Homeland at the same pace and depth as in the rest of the world in general. It is right that comprador capitalist Arab ruling classes gave up and left the struggle against the Zionist Ashkenazi regime, and it is also correct that Arab popular classes are not leading the struggle yet. In fact they never got the right to participate freely in deciding their fate. What I want to note here is that there is a failure from the Arab side. But this vacuum will never be filled by any force other than the popular classes. These popular classes realize more and more that the Zionist Ashkenazi regime is a direct part of the capitalist West which is the historical enemy of the Arab nation, and that the realization of the goals of the Arab popular classes of development, unity and socialism is highly conditioned by the liberation of Palestine through the change of the nature of the Zionist regime to be integrated into the socialist Arab Homeland which is named Arab Homeland, but is not only for Arabs.

These premises compose a pressure against the Zionist Ashkenazi leadership to coin its own solution for that conflict a reason which led it to choose[4] the solution of Integration through Domination (ITD).[5] This solution was crystallized in Camp David, Oslo, Wadi Araba agreements with the comprador regimes in Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan. Later it was followed by semi-secret and less important agreements with other comprador Arab regimes. All these agreements were never welcomed by the popular masses despite the fact that the resistance of these classes was mainly passive on the one hand and geographically limited on the other.

To elaborate, the boycotting and anti-normalization efforts against Israel are not still declared and effective against the allies of the Zionists which are the capitalist camp, ruling classes and their organic intellectuals on the one hand, and the ruling comprador and patriarchal classes in the Arab Homeland itself on the other. The practice of boycotting and anti-normalization in this manner means the beginning of a socialist grassroots movement which because of boycotting has to provide an alternative development model, development by Popular Protection DBPP. Boycotting will imperatively deduce the negation of dependency, neo-liberalism, liberalization of trade, the structural adjustment policies and privatization…etc. Thus the Arab movement of boycotting and anti-normalization is still too far from achieving its main goal which is to declare boycotting and anti-normalization with the capitalist camp in general.

All suggested solutions to this conflict are of one nature, “peace for capital and not for peoples” which never transcends the ITD project which achieved victory over two out of three Arab fronts: the front of the ruling classes which were defeated in the 1967 war and decided to stop fighting for the Arab cause, and the large part of the Arab political organizations, especially PLO which decided to normalize with Israel since 1982, the ZAR’s invasion of Lebanon. It is really doubtful that the ZAR – its leadership, organic intellectual and think tanks- and the Arab comprador, as well as the ruling elites in the capitalist center do not know that the main battle is with the Arab popular classes. The counter revolutionary position and understanding of the conflict contains the following profound contradictions

The peace for capital camp strongly believes that it is able, thanks to its huge capitalist and military police power, is able to impose its designed solution of the conflict over the Arab popular classes including and first of all the Palestinian people.

The experience of humanity demonstrates that time and again, that no nation in history gave up its memory, rights, future and choose to be colonized, oppressed have its development obstructed.

That is why the conflict had lasted for along time, and will continue for another long one despite the fact that the Palestinian people, in the Shatat[6]or under occupation and siege, and the Arab popular classes are suffering from a civil war launched by the Arab comprador capitalist ruling classes.

Examples of False Solutions

As I noted above, all the suggested solutions of the conflict are Zionized and end up within the range of peace for capital.

All Palestinian Arabs in the ZAR who believe and participate in the Israeli parliament-Knesset are believers in Zionist ideology in a way or another. They recognize the ZAR in the one hand and believe that through the parliament, a national minority is able to retain self-determination. In fact these Arab intellectuals and political parties never dared to demand self-determination for the 1948-Arabs, i.e. to declare that their struggle is to separate the Galilee and triangle areas to be an independent entity. They did not try to exploit the new capitalist era “globalization” which to adopt new nationalisms to gain self-determination. To elaborate, while in the era of globalization, all small minorities in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, in Iraq and the Sudan have been supported by the US capitalist empire in the making, why only the Palestinians are forbidden from that? The aim here is to weaken the ZAR as a step on the long road for a socialist state in Palestine (see later).

The Israeli communist party Rakah recognizes the ZAR and demands equality between Jews and Arabs. Since 1948, Rakah had been trying that through the parliament, and yet nothing has been accomplished. What is possible through a parliament dominated by the national majority are cultural rights. But the conflict was never a cultural or religious one.

The same goes for the one-man party Al-Tagamu’s Al-Demokrati Al-Arabi, built and led by Azmi Bishara. Bishara hijacked the Communist party’s equality citizenship to raise his slogan “A State for All of its Citizens”. There is nothing really new in Bishara’s slogan except that he grasped the Arab nationalist sentiment of the Arab Palestinians in the AZR and used it for his own political ambitions. He hung Nasser’s picture the symbol of Arab nationalists whose final goal was to liberate Palestine, in his office in the Knesset.[7]

All Palestinian Arabs in the AZR who recognize this state never go beyond the cultural rights of the Palestinians. Even the intellectuals are limited into this issue.[8]

On the other side, the Jewish one, Rabbi Michael Lerner argues for two- states solution, and asks the Palestinian people to ignore their right of return (ROR). In a dialogue between Learner and the Palestinian activist Salman Abu Sitta, Lerner wrote:

“Dear Salman Abu Sitta: I have trouble understanding the underlying strategic vision of people who hold your position. My view is that the Palestinian people should build a movement fully committed to non-violence, and with realizable goals (a Palestinian state in almost all the West Bank and Gaza, with dismantling of the settlements and no Israeli military presence). That is realizable, and should include massive aid to resettle Palestinians in the West Bank, so that millions could return to that Palestinian state”.[9]

Either directly or indirectly, Lerner gave himself the right to think “for” the Palestinians. He ignores the ROR, and asks the Palestinians not to resist the occupation even in 1967-Occupied areas. It is not strange from a Zionist to stand for the official policies of the capitalist ruling classes which is “no resistance in the era of globalization”. That is why he did not ask the AZR to be de-militarized. As a Zionist, he wants the victim to, simply, give up.

Lerner’s advice for the Palestinians to adopt non-violence might be considered innocent if he supports the ROR in advance.

Lerner continues:

“I want your perspective to be hared. But knowing how many Jews in America today see me as a crazy self-hating Jew who is really a Palestinian apologist, and then recognizing that even I can’t understand the perspective that insists on return to Israel except by people who have given up on anything real and so must retain fantasies of destroying the Jewish state altogether.”

Many Zionists hide behind the so-called “demographic threat”, but it never was the main source of contradiction. Any part of the conflict that concentrates on the demographic issue is the part that still plans for a continuous war. The Zionists are dreaming of a pure Jewish population in Palestine, or at worst a Jewish great majority. They arbitrarily separate the Palestinians from the Arab nation, an issue which really never worked. That is why, if they become majority in Palestine, they gain nothing. This means that even ethnic cleansing will not solve the problem. One of the issues which the Jews failed to understand is that their majority in Palestine wad never accepted by the Palestinians even in the occupied part 1948, because these Palestinians feel that they belong to the pan-Arab nation.

Zionists are trying to reach the situation of a pure Jewish state, separating the Palestinians from the Arab nation, and pulling the Arab nation to normalize with the ZAR. The Zionists put themselves in a position that shapes and re-shapes Arab people memory according to their enemy’s instructions. The pure Jewish, or the state of vast Jewish majority is the factor behind the Zionist refusal of any joint state.

All positions that support two-state solution based on the recognition of the ZAR pretend that the conflict started with the 1967 war which led to the occupation of the rest of Palestine. These solutions are in favor of Zionism and against the ROR.

It is worth to note that the first Arabs who recognized the ZAR were mainly Communists who blindly followed the USSR. The Arab merchant, political feudal and reactionary regimes did not recognize the AZR following the occupation of most of Palestine 1948 despite the fact that they were not really against it. These regimes were frightened by the Arab nationalist movement which was at its peak. Following the 1967 war, the Arab comprador capitalist ruling classes become the vehicle of the recognition of that regime. After the defeat of the Arab nationalist regimes, the Qutri[10]state was strengthened to the extent that it became able to pay the price of betraying the national cause.

The Socialist Project Necessitates the Disintegration of the Zionist Entity

There are three main developments that the Arab popular classes and their vanguard parties have to consider in developing their new strategy in the era of globalization.

The first development is at the world scale, the deterioration of communist internationalism and the world revolution, which started in the 1950s and reached its peak by 1990s. In other words, it is the victory of capital in the form of epidemic of globalization.

The second development is Internalization of Defeat (IOD)[11] by Arab regimes and many other political parties, which resulted in the false peace process (Oslo-1993) and the AZR’s arrogant position towards the rejection of the ROR.

The third is the success of the enemy’s camp to terminate the possible Arab resistance against its plan of “peace for capital” and to imply its goal which is “no resistance in the era of globalization”. To achieve that success, imperialist powers and the Iqlimi or Qutri regimes, destroyed the power of Iraq, encouraged the deterioration of the PLO leadership deterioration towards IOD, supported North Yemen in terminating the leftist regime in South Yemen, and the inflamed of bloody internal wars in Egypt and Algiers.

These developments pre-suppose an elaboration of a new Arab strategy for development, unity and the liberation of Palestine and other occupied Arab land. But our discussion here will be limited to the struggle against the ZAP and its future place in the Arab socialist project.

As mentioned earlier, there are two socio-political groups in Arab societies that have internalized the defeat. These are the ruling comprador capitalist classes and a large number of political parties. Accordingly, these groups became vehicles for normalization with the imperialist center and the Zionist project. The Zionist goal, however, never stopped at the point of “peace” with Palestinians. The Zionist goal requires a “quiet”, underdeveloped, fragmented, non-socialist and open Arab Homeland for Israeli products, i.e. a large subjugated periphery. The Zionist goal is to be accepted by Arabs as a normal part of the region aiming at dominating the Arab markets, through ITD. This means that the policy of normalization is a policy of aggression. It aims at maintaining the Zionist entity as is, and to have it openly accepted by the Arabs. The real meaning of this goal is a new version of a Zionist war, this time, not a formal war against the ruling classes and their armies. These ruling classes became part of the Zionist/imperialist camp. It is a war against the nation. To elaborate, it is a war against the popular classes whose interest is in unity, development, socialism, and the liberation of the occupied Arab land. We are, then, discussing a new era, a new class re-ordering in both revolution and counter-revolution, in the socialist and capitalist camps.

The Components of the Socialist Project Compared to the Zionist Project

The Arab comprador ruling classes has already traveled a long way towards normalization with the Zionist project. Many of them have declared the end of Arab formal boycotting of the Zionist project. Several Arab regimes recognized the Zionist project as is. The Zionist project on the one hand, and some Arab countries on the other, are encouraging trade among themselves. The Zionist project dares to protest to Egypt and the PA the articles that were critical to its policies or ideology. This is due to those articles in “peace” agreements that were designed to create cultural normalization as a part of a plan to terminate the people’s spirit of resistance and challenge.

Before dealing with the attitude of the Arab socialist project towards the Zionist entity, it is necessary to deal with the recent deterioration of the Palestinian struggle against the Zionist entity. It should be mentioned that as long as the Palestinian resistance movement lowers its goal to the level of restoring the West Bank and Gaza, not the liberation of the entire Palestine, falls into the trap of “dividing its own country with the enemy”. This deterioration started in the open after PLO’s defeat and eviction form Jordan 1970/1971.

The division of the homeland with the enemy played a major role in breeding defeatist slogans or projects, e.g. two-state solution, bi-national state, democratic state…etc. By so doing that, the PLO itself neutralized the popular Arab dimension in the struggle. A development that terminated the credibility of the PLO. The deterioration to the level of these slogans and attitudes means that those who raise and believe in these slogans have changed their position from the national liberation movement to Palestinian Zionists. They are Zionists in terms of recognizing the Zionist entity on the land of Palestine. This means that they accepted the Zionist ideology and policy of rejecting the Palestinian refugees’ ROR even if they did not declare that. These people are in fact part of the Arabs who internalized the defeat.

As for the socialist solution of the conflict, I will divide it into three interconnected areas.

The first area relates to the Palestinians in the 1948-occupied areas. This community is part of the Arab nation. It has its own nationalism, the Arab nationalism. It is not an ‘accumulation’ or gathering of human beings without a social structure and political/national goal. Accordingly, their role in the joint Arab popular classes’ project is a struggle to create their own Palestinian state in the occupied part of Palestine 1948, i.e. the Zionist entity. But this is their transitional goal on the road towards the final (socialist) goal. The justifications of declaring such a state are the following:

a. It is their right, as a national minority, to have their own state.

b. They are opposed to the idea of the exchange of land between the Zionist entity and the PA, because they are against the idea of two-state solution: a solution that maintains and recognizes the Zionist project on the one hand, and supports a comprador puppet regime in the WBG on the other.

c. Their demand for an independent state is a challenge to the United Nations which supported a large number of new states that declared their separation from the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, e.g. Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia…etc.

d. The Palestinian state for the 1948 Palestinians is a step towards the disintegration of the Zionist project as a step towards the re-unification of all of Palestine with the socialist Arab Homeland.

The second area is the WBG, where the direct, transitional goal is the withdrawal of the occupation from the Palestinian Occupied Territories (OT)-1967. This withdrawal shouldn’t be conditioned or tied to recognition of the Zionist entity because this recognition contains giving-up the right of return of the Palestinian refugees. My point here is that the PA must not pretend that it is representing all the Palestinian people. This representation was accepted to a certain extent when PLO was a national liberation movement, fighting for the liberation of Palestine. In other words, the direct goal must be the end of occupation without recognition of the Zionist entity. This must be the Palestinian position, even if its cost will be termination of the declaration of a Palestinian state in the WBG, or the continuity of the occupation itself. I am against the declaration of a Palestinian state in the WBG as a final solution, because of several reasons one of them is that it is a Zionist demand more than a Palestinian one. The occupation must be defeated and forced to withdraw from the WBG, but not for the sake of establishing a Palestinian state limited to these areas, as a final solution of the Arab-Zionist conflict.

The Zionists are in favor of a Palestinian state so they can sign a final agreement with a “state” and not with a “political organization, the PLO”. The declaration of a Palestinian state in the context of Oslo is a mere recognition of the Zionist project and an acceptance of the termination of the refugees ROR. In addition to that, it is an invitation from the Palestinians to the Arabs to terminate the anti-normalization activities. Briefly speaking, it is a continuity of the “peace for capital”. Bi-national, and /or a democratic state in Palestine, terminates the Arab national dimension of the Palestinian question. These solutions ignore the ROR, because they are solutions for the Palestinians and the Jews who are currently inside Palestine. If one of these solutions is applied, the national struggle of the Palestinian people will deteriorate to the level of an internal civil rights issue inside a “legitimate” state. If the Palestinians inside Palestine accept any of these solutions, they are, in fact, asking the Arabs to normalize with the Zionist entity, while the real Arab role is to struggle against this entity as an occupation of Palestine and as a watchdog for imperialism in the region.

The withdrawal of Israeli occupation from the WBG and the creation of a Palestinian state for Palestinians in the occupied 1948 areas are an introduction to the disintegration of the Zionist entity. This preliminary, or transitional solution, is aimed at re-uniting Palestine with the Arab Homeland.

This leads us to the third and main goal, the Arab popular socialist solution, the only solution which guarantees for the Jews the right to live in the region as an ethnic minority with full rights like Arabs and other ethnic groups. But, this project is in a contradiction with the Zionist main goal in the region. The policy of the Zionist entity policy its and attitude could be summarized as follows:

– To maintain Jewish control over all of the land of Palestine.

– To reject the Palestinian refugees’ right of return.

– To maintain Israel as a pure, Jewish state.

– To keep itself as a watchdog for imperialism in the region.

– To be accepted as a normal entity in the Arab Homeland.

This is a typical racist way of thinking. It is mentality of subjugation. As long as the Zionists maintain this policy and mentality on the one hand, and insist on being accepted into the Arab Homeland in an ITD manner, on the other hand, Israel is in fact expanding the direct military war to economic, social and cultural wars against the Arab people. It is an aggression against the people’s ability to produce, which leads them to consume only its goods. The Popular Arab solution in Palestine contains, in the first place, Palestinian refugees’ ROR, and the dismantling of the Zionist entity. It includes the elimination of the Jewish monopolies over the land, economy and the military apparatus. This solution can be applicable only through a united socialist Arab federation. The socialist Palestine will be a member in that federation.

Here comes the role of the Arab socialist project, the goals of which are unity, development, and liberation of the occupied Arab land. These goals are in a direct contradiction with Zionism and imperialism. Accordingly, the Arab socialist project is, in fact, anti-normalization with the Zionist entity and imperialism. This is the only solution that guarantees, for the Jews, real human rights in an Arab developed, united or federal socialist state.

The Vehicle is Nationalism of the Popular Classes

The Zionist project as a racist and settler project is neither capable of generating a social political force that is ready to arrive at a real peace with the Palestinian people and the Arab nation, nor of generating a communist movement. On the other side, the Arab socialist movement deteriorated drastically and lags more and more behind the mass movement. Most of the Arab communist parties chose for themselves different names, i.e. the democratic forces or currents. They stop calling themselves socialists, or even leftists. Accordingly, my argument will focus on the nationalism of the Arab popular classes (Arab nationalism), which has the potential of breeding a genuine socialist movement and achieving the socialist goal. For the purpose of this speech and in my conclusion, Arab nationalism means the nationalism of the Arab popular classes, and their position towards the Arab struggle against the enemies of that nation. My argument that Arab nationalism should be evaluated according to its class content, aims, its political movement, and within the context of historical events that is the subject of discussion. I am inclined to suppose that Arab nationalism in this era, as an expression of the needs and rights of an oppressed nation, is progressive by its nature. Parts of the Arab Homeland are colonies in the real sense of the word.

The aspiration of this nation is to achieve unity, development, and the liberation and restoration of its all occupied regions, not only Palestine. These regions include parts of Syria, occupied by Israel and others occupied by Turkey, part of Iraq and of Bahrain that are occupied by Iran, and a part of Al-Maghrib (Morocco) that is occupied by Spain.

The nature of the contradictions sheds lights on the form of the struggle. The struggle of a nation for development, liberation, and unity, in the era of globalized capitalism, will certainly be a socialist struggle. To elaborate more, the social class, which was supposed to lead the liberation, independence, and unity, is the bourgeois class. This class in the Arab Homeland, has turned against unity, has allied itself with imperialism and is “donating” its occupied parts to the colonial and settler-colonial powers. In other words, the comprador bourgeois class is an enemy of the nation. Therefore, this class lost its supposed historical role to achieve the nation’s development, unity and liberation. Based on that, the social class, which is supposed to take the lead, will be the popular classes whose interests are in unity, development, liberation of its occupied land and ultimately achieving socialism. This class is the only one which is able to breed a new socialist movement: a movement that represents the nature, ambitions, balance of power of the popular classes as it is on the ground, not as it was for the whole past century when the Arab communist movement was arguing for the dictatorship of an absent proletariat, and, finally, a movement that divorced the socialist program and ideology.

Finally, a joint Arab and Israeli struggle slogans of working class or its pioneering elite joint struggle can’t penetrate the popular masses unless it comes and is accepted from below. That is why the re-education of the masses on both sides is important to change the culture of capital, hatred, superiority, chauvinism, colonialism…etc. But even these are not enough. They must be related with practical slogans and programs to conduct them and to prove their genuinity. For the Arab side, to believe in a joint struggle with Jewish Israelis, two main conditions have to be adopted:

An Israeli Jewish recognition that the Zionists caused a Holocaust against the Palestinians and this must be eliminated.

The struggle for ROR and elimination of the Holocaust is a condition for a joint struggle.

[1] I received an invitation to present a paper in a conference hosted by the Jordanian Association of Philosophy in Amman which was held on 30 April 2004. The theme of the conference was “Arab Discourse after the fall of Baghdad”. The participants were writers from all Arab countries, and I was the only Palestinian. To ensure my entry to Jordan, the Jordanian writers attempted to secure me a semi-visa called A’dam Mumana’ah (Entry is Not Denied). This was rejected by the Jordanian authorities until 28 April, when the organizers phoned and told me that they finally got me the permit from the office of the Jordanian Prime Minister. The morning of 29 April, I went to the River Jordan bridge to cross to the Jordanian side, where I was told by the Israeli police that I am forbidden from leaving the West Bank. They gave me a paper and instructed me to meet the Israeli police on the 4th of May. I went to the police station designated for the area of my residence. Two hours after the scheduled appointment, a soldier took me to a room to meet with a young Israeli civilian. The meeting lasted for 75 minutes. Most of his talk centered around the fact that they “we are able to kill you any time, you support operations against civilians, you will never travel any where”…etc. I replied that I am supporting my people’s resistance and that this is not the first time I write, why do you remember me now? Is it coordination with Arab Mukhabarat(intelligence services)? Few months prior to that, in December 2003, I attended a conference in Cairo in solidarity with the Iraqi and Palestinian resistance. Since that time I have been forbidden to leave the West Bank. Any ways, this is not the first time they forbidden me to leave.

[2] The challenging question in this context is: Who creates the conflict in this region? Is it God or capital? To elaborate, will we have to accept the narration of the Old Testament or the historical narration which proves that the old Arabs (the Canaanites) settled Palestine three thousand years before the Old Testament? But what is more relative and scientific is that the ZAR was created and is still supported by the capitalist center. The complexity at this level lies in capital’s success in “capitalizing” on (i.e. domination of capitalist system over) and “Zionizing” Judaism. It has succeeded as well in capitalizing Christianity especially in the countries of the capitalist center. As for the Arabs, capital succeeded in Zionizing many political and intellectual elites. However, it did not succeed to capitalize Muslim societies and their peoples. The reason might be due to the blocked development in the countries of the periphery, although Islam is much closer to capitalism as has many mercantile concepts. And perhaps, because these societies did not move towards capitalism, we find that Islam and political Islam followed the side of resistance.

[3] After a speech I deliver in the University of Michigan in the year 2001, a Jewish student came to me and asked me the following question: It is clear that the creation of Israel is a historical mistake; there is no future for this project, but how to solve this conflict? I told him briefly, that since you start realizing that is a mistake, this is a first solid step towards the solution.

[4] The other two choices were either to keep a direct and continuous war with and against Arabs which is very costly at the human and material levels, or to be integrated equally with the Arab socialist Homeland which is costly at the capitalist and cultural levels.

[5] Integration Through Domination (ITD): This term refers to Israeli attempts and efforts to forcefully integrate itself into the Arab Homeland, but on its own terms and conditions. It means that the Arab nation will accept Israel as a “normal” state in the region. Israeli products will be marketed freely and Israel will be the industrial and financial center of the region. It will have the upper hand in the military power as well. In other words, Israel will be accepted as a “center for the Arab periphery”.

[6]Shatat is an Arabic term that signifies one’s living outside of his/her homeland. In the context of this paper, shatat is used to indicate Palestinians who were forcefully expelled from their homeland – Palestine as a result of the Zionist occupation of Palestine in 1948 and the years that followed. These Palestinians reside, since 1948, in many Arab and other countries world-wide as Palestinian refugees.

[7] Bishara used his contacts with Hizballah in Lebanon to strengthen his publicity. The Zionist police tried to put him to trial by accusing him of building contacts with a “terrorist” organization. But they never pursued that as many official Zionist sources proved that he was building these contacts under their supervision and encouragement.

[8] See Adel Samara, Epidemic of Globalization, Chapter 4, Peace for Jews in a United Socialist Arab State. Published by Palestine Research and Publishing Foundation, Glendale, USA, 2001.

[9] Quoted from a correspondence between Salman Abu Sitta, a Palestinian leading figure for the ROR in London and Michael Lerner the Editor of Tikun (published in the United States) dated 31 December 2001.

[10]Iqlimi in Arabic is an adjective of iqlim and qutri is an adjective of qutr. Bothterms in Arabic mean ‘a country or a part of a county’, a district, or province. In modern Arabic political life and discourse, iqlimi signifies an area (such as Syria and Iraq) that was artificially severed from the rest of the Arab Homeland as a result of occupation by European colonial powers (Britain and France) then became politically and geographically ‘independent’ and isolated from the collective of Arab countries. The term also refers to the underlying fragmentation of the Arab Homeland into aqtar (plural of qutor).

[11] Internalization of Defeat (IOD): It is a case or situation when a social class, political party, or even an individual is defeated and succumbs to thinking, behaving, and communicating as defeated. Defeatism, in this case, is deeply accepted by the people. The reason of defeat is not an external one only; it is mainly a subjective one. It is a condition when a class adapts to defeat and ceases to resist even when it has a just cause.